Casualty Fridays

Some years ago, before business casual was widely in fashion, many employees tended to have to wear business suits to the office. The men wore dress shirts, ties, dress shoes and dress pants while the ladies wore blazers, blouses, pantyhose/stockings and heels. Then along came organizations like the United Way in North America which partnered with employers to allow employees to dress down on Fridays provided the employee made a financial contribution to a charity.

Even today at many offices, (including mine) employees can wear jeans to work on a Friday, ditch a dress shirt for a polo top, and pay a nominal $2.00 to a charity, (the United Way in my office). So much for what hasn’t changed. However, what has in fact changed is the broadcast of the message to the general public. Initially, one of the stipulations in many workplaces was that employees sported a pin that read, “I’m dressed this way for the United Way” or some such message. If someone asked about the pin, the employee would then tell the client or customer that they were making a financial contribution to a charity for the freedom to wear jeans to work. Oh and they couldn’t be the jeans people wear today! No tears, no rips, no stains.

So how does all this factor into a blog about job advice? Well, one of the things many Job Developers, Coaches and Employment Counsellors tell their clients is to try to observe employees at the companies they most want to work for, in order to gauge how they dress in the workplace. This gives you the chance to show up at your interview properly attired so you don’t stick out in a negative way. After all, if you look like one of them, the interviewer has an easier time seeing you working there.

So you can guess where I’m going right? Suppose the client you send out to observe employees entering the workplace chooses a Friday to do their advanced scouting. What would they take from this scene of people all walking in to work wearing runners, jeans and t-shirts/polos one day, only to find on the next Wednesday when they show up for their interview, that everybody has ramped it up to shirts/ties/blouses/dress skirts, and looking much more professional. Maybe somebody passed away and the staff are all heading off to the visitation after hours?

Now it’s a personal choice of mine to bypass the chance to sport jeans on Friday. Man I love my jeans. I change into them almost immediately every night and ditch the khaki’s or dress pants. The reason for my choice is simply this. As I work in the public with the public, even if I explained to everyone I had an interaction with the reason for why I was wearing jeans, there could be someone who sees me from across the room and makes the assumption that I’m dressed this way everyday, and that the employer finds this the norm and acceptable attire. Then they go to their interview dressed as casually, and don’t get far.

Some call them Casual Fridays however, I call them Casualty Fridays. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish the employees from the clients/customers. I’ve heard some clients go up to others and ask, “Do you work here?” because they are confused. I think my own credibility on the subject would be skewed somewhat if I were to lead a session on Interview Preparation and Practice dressed in a T-Shirt and jeans. Wouldn’t this appear to be a, “Do as I say, not as I do” message? I never bought into those kind of messages much, and I suspect clients/customers would have an equally disconnecting moment in trying to do so. In other words my credibility would be questionable.

Let me say however, that if an employer sanctions the practice of dressing down to make a contribution to a charity, by all means every employee should have the right to make that choice once a week – especially as business attire has been replaced by business casual more and more and in more workplaces too. I would also stress that good advice would be to not admonish any co-worker who slips on a pair of jeans on a day they are allowed to by the employer. After all, the cause is good, the employer approves and obviously the employee is comfortable. All I suggest is that if you are in a position to influence, take a moment when you can to inform any potential job seeker WHY you are wearing your jeans to work on a Friday, and why it normally wouldn’t be appropriate.

Me, I’m waiting for the day I can pull out my tied-dyed jeans, lace up my black and purple platform shoes, put on my cotton french cuffed shirt which only buttons half way up my chest, and style my hair with an afro pick. That day is only approved by my employer once a year…..October 31.